ANOTHER performance like we've witnessed the past two weekends at home simply won't cut it if the Ballarat Miners consider themselves a genuine threat in this season's NBL1 South competition.
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Hitting the road for one of the last times this season, the Miners this week go up against the Knox Raiders, a team that on paper, they should be able to handle.
But as we've seen in two of the past three matches, games are not won on paper, they are very much won on what happens on court. For that to happen, the Miners need their best players to step up, none-more-so than the biggest of all Deng Gak who had one of the worst games seen in a long time last weekend, zero points and five fouls in less than eight minutes on the court.
It will be interesting to see what coach Luke Sunderland does this week with his biggest player after import JD Miller more than stepped up to the plate with 28 points in a lone-hand display when Gak was off the court.
There's potential for the 204cm Texan to move into the starting centre role given his form last week.
He has settled well in his few games so far and could provide the strength under the bucket that was sorely lacking last week with Gak out of sorts.
The Miners also need the likes of Koen Sapwell and Preston Bungei to hit their best form against Knox who boast one of the league's best guards, import Alex Robinson who is averaging 19 points a game.
Bungei particularly has been quiet the past two outings at home, but we saw with his game against Dandenong away on the road two weeks ago what a difference he can make when on form.
Sapwell is also better than what he showed last week, going 0-8 from long range in a 10-point game. Hopefully he can recapture form like he showed earlier in the season when he led the Miners with a 33-point game against the Melbourne Tigers.
A win on the road here will keep the Miners within striking distance of the top teams, however a loss will leave them back in the pack. While there's only the one game this weekend, it's an important weekend for the team to get back some momentum with three consecutive home games to come.
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